Improved Russian US Relations May Be Helpful to Armenia

Last November, Americans elected the unlikeliest presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump. He is not your typical politician. As a successful and prominent businessman, he is used to making off-the-cuff remarks and not subscribing to any particular direction. Given the controversial nature of the Trump Presidency, domestic and international relations may drastically change. President Trump has already revised his position on some major campaign promises: expelling illegal aliens, building a wall between Mexico and the United States, and not allowing immigrants from Islamic countries to visit the United States. President Trump has also altered his position regarding serious, international issues. President Trump may not be sure himself what positions he would take on a variety of foreign policy issues.

Here is a short list of major international decisions President Trump will have to make.

The most important realignment of relations will be between Russia and the United States. If these two major countries can get along, there is no reason to be at odds risking the stability of the world. Furthermore, cooperation between Russia and the United States will have a positive effect on reducing terrorism in Syria and Iraq. Many of the major international figures who are opposed to the prospect of the improved relations between Putin and President Trump are reverting back to the Cold War Era mentality. The biggest issue that has arisen in recent weeks was the accusation that Russia had hacked the US presidential election. However, Russians have not done anything extraordinary. China, Russia and even US allies have always tried to steal each other’s secrets.

Due to his discontent with current international agreements, President Trump will want to re-negotiate the terms, previously approved under the Obama administration. One of the most important changes President Trump wants to do is re-negotiate the nuclear deal with Iran, which involves several other countries besides Iran and the US. It remains to be seen if the Iranians will go along with any of the changes proposed by President Trump.

A major realignment desired by President Trump is the settling of the Israeli-Arab conflict. If President Trump goes along with his plans in moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, this could result in a major clash between the US and the Arab states leading to highly undesirable consequences.

The final issue that President Trump will confront is the newly improved relationship between the United States and Cuba. It remains to be seen whether Cuba will go along with any changes proposed by President Trump.

There is no guarantee that President Trump’s ideas will improve the previously negotiated agreements or if they be accepted by the rest of the world. Consequentially, there is a lot of uncertainty where the new world order is headed, and whether relations between various countries will improve. The entire world hopes that countries will get along better with each other and peaceful solutions will be found. Positive relations between Russia and the US will help recent challenges faced by the Armenian Republic.

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2 Comments

The article is titled “Improved Russian US Relations May Be Helpful to Armenia” yet the article doesn’t delve into anything that explains how or why those improved relations will help. Even more deceiving about the article is that Armenia is only mentioned as an afterthought in the final sentence, where we’re left without anything other than a mere paraphrasing of the title of the article itself.

I do think making amends with Russia will stabilize matters in the world. It would do away with East versus West mentality and pin a tolerant, democratic modern world (including Europe, America, and Russia) against that of destructive Muslim fundamentalism. In that arena, Armenia’s rights and support would grow. In essence, we are a nation that has fought and endured ISIS-like ideology for over 700 years.

However, I don’t think we should only hope for this to occur, but seize the opportunity. In other words, we should use marketing and politics to influence both Russia and the West to arrive to such an understanding. Throughout history, we’ve had brave fighters–St. Vartan, Andranik, Njdeh, Monte, and many others. However, at least in the last 100 years, we have not had solid political leaders who could influence others’ thinking and behavior. It could start by the Armenian President sending a bottle of Nairi Armenian Cognac to Mr. Trump on his inauguration.